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Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Biomimetic Materials to Characterize Bacteria-host Interactions
Published on: November 16, 2015
Role of importin-beta in coupling Ran to downstream targets in microtubule assembly
1Department of Embryology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA.
Abstract:
The guanosine triphosphatase Ran stimulates assembly of microtubule asters and spindles in mitotic Xenopus egg extracts. A carboxyl-terminal region of the nuclear-mitotic apparatus protein (NuMA), a nuclear protein required for organizing mitotic spindle poles, mimics Ran's ability to induce asters. This NuMA fragment also specifically interacted with the nuclear transport factor, importin-beta. We show that importin-beta is an inhibitor of microtubule aster assembly in Xenopus egg extracts and that Ran regulates the interaction between importin-beta and NuMA. Importin-beta therefore links NuMA to regulation by Ran. This suggests that similar mechanisms regulate nuclear import during interphase and spindle assembly during mitosis.
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